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Molly Ivins, 1944-2007

"So keep fightin' for freedom and justice, beloveds, but don't you forget to have fun doin' it. Lord, let your laughter ring forth. Be outrageous, ridicule the fraidy-cats, rejoice in all the oddities that freedom can produce. And when you get through kickin' ass and celebratin' the sheer joy of a good fight, be sure to tell those who come after how much fun it was."

Please help

Ever since blogs became popular online, “monetizing” a blog has
become fodder for those who writing and selling “How to ...”
information for making money online. As with everything else, a
few have made it work and most haven't.

AOL's recent purchase of "The Huffington Post" for $315 million
from Arianna Huffington drove home the point.

HuffPost, of course was never billed as an actual blog. It's
stated purpose is an internet newspaper. And, it is.
Nevertheless, it was operated like a blog with readers given
free access to comment on every article.

Nothing is ever done online without controversy. Apparently
some of the writers who contributed free articles to HuffPost
aren't thrilled about this acquisition.

However, it's about much more than a simple purchase. As part
of the deal, Arianna Huffington will now be in charge of all
AOL's content.

Since Huffington has already established herself as television
personality, there's much more involved here than the simple
purchase of an internet newspaper. Her popularity on talk shows
can do nothing but raise AOL's visibility and reputation.

As of September, 2010, Twitter had 175 million users. This past
December, Twitter raised $200 million in financing in a deal
that valued the company at $3.7 billion dollars.

Industry research firm, eMarketer, said in January that Twitter
generated roughly $45 million from advertising in 2010 and is
expected to generate around $150 million in 2011.

The Wall Street Journal has reporterd that both Google and
Facebook have had “low-level” talks with executives at Twitter
about a possible takeover. It's claimed they are estimating
Twitter's value at 8 billion to 10 billion dollars.

The Wall Street Journal said the talks have so far gone nowhere
and that Google, Facebook and Twitter all declined to comment.

Verizon Communications Inc. and Metro PCS Communications Inc.
have filed challenges in a Federal Appeals Court, in District of
Columbia, against the the Federal Communications Commission
(FCC). They claim the FCC overstepped its legal authority last
month by prohibiting phone and cable companies from interfering
with traffic on their broadband networks.

The FCC has asked the court to dismiss the challenges to these
new "network neutrality" regulations. The FCC argues that
Verizon Communications Inc. and Metro PCS Communications Inc.
filed their challenges prematurely since the new rules are not
yet published.

Should the court allow the dismissal, there's little doubt the
communications companies' will simply refile at the appropriate
time.

This is the same court that has already ruled the FCC had
overstepped in sanctioning Comcast Corp. for discriminating
against online file-sharing traffic on its broadband network.

A new poll by Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey shows
that 54% of respondents (and “likely voters”) are outright
opposed to regulation and 25% are not certain. Most fear
regulation would promote political agenda.

It is not clear that most voters understand what net neutrality
actually is. When asked if they had been following stories about
net neutrality, only 20 percent said they are following news of
the net neutrality regulations “very closely,”

The question asked by Rasmussen was:

“Should the Federal Communications Commission regulate the
Internet like it does radio and television?”

As Amy Lee posted on Huffington Post:

“The respondents were asked, ‘Should the Federal Communications
Commission regulate the Internet like it does radio and
television?’ With a topic as broad, and as complicated, as net
neutrality, such a question addresses only one small part of the
whole picture.

For example, Rasmussen could just as legitimately have asked,
‘Should all internet users have the same access to the same
Internet, regardless of how much they pay?’ Or it might have
asked, ‘Should broadband carriers have the ability to block or
remove content based on their discretion alone?’”

At least one of the other three questions suggested that if the
Federal Communications Commission is given the authority to
regulate the internet, they might use it to promote a political
agenda.

According to Rasmussen:

“The survey was conducted shortly after the FCC decided on a
party line vote to impose so-called “net neutrality” regulations
on the Internet world. Republicans and unaffiliated voters
overwhelmingly oppose FCC regulation of the Internet, while
Democrats are more evenly divided.”

There’s little doubt the outcome would have been different if
the ramifications of the lack of legislation had been stated in
the questions and/or had the suggestive questions not been used.